Mountain lions are least at risk when they live far from people, pets & livestock. Learn how you can help to Save America's Lion by taking steps to secure your home and yard, safeguard your family, and protect your pets and livestock.

Living away from the crowded cities means having your own
piece of land and plenty of room for children and pets to play.
However, it also means wildlife is just outside your backdoor.

Birds and squirrels may be amusing visitors, but inviting any
form of wildlife often means you are opening the door for all
kinds of critters.

The best thing to do is to keep a barrier between you and the
wildlife - it benefits everyone! By
doing so, you will save your pets and livestock from becoming
dinner and help keep
out of trouble thereby ensuring they will not be killed for doing what comes natural to them.

Put wildlife at
a safe distance and make sure your furry loved ones are kept
close and protected by following these four simple steps.

Step 1. Bring Your Pets Indoors

Keeping your animals inside helps prevent diseases and also protects
them from mountain lions, but we understand this is not always
possible.

And besides, isn't part of
the reason you are living away from the city is so you and your
animals can have plenty of open space and not be cooped up all
day?

While your pets are safer
indoors (and we suggest you keep them inside whenever possible
or if there has been a recent lion sighting), they are typically
not at great risk from mountain lions in your yard during the
day.

Lions are usually most active
at night. You will increase your
pets' safety and keep them happy by simply bringing them indoors
between dusk and dawn, as well as accompanying them on late
night bathroom outings.

If having your animals sleep inside the house is not possible... for example
you have large dogs, a herd of sheep, or a goat that just snores
too loudly, then secure them for the night in a fully enclosed
structure like a shed, barn, or one of MLF's lion-proof small
livestock enclosures. For
larger ranching operations where this is not an option, please
see Step 3
for tips on keeping free range animals safe from predators.

Step 2. Keep Mountain Lions Out of Your Yard

Just because there are lions in the area does
not mean one is living in your backyard. A lion's territory can easily encompass 20 square miles and they spend most of their time traveling throughout their territory.

Therefore,
an easy way to keep lions away is to be sure you are not
attracting their natural prey - deer - to your home or garden.

The California
Department of Fish and Game's
A Gardener's Guide to Preventing Deer Damage has tips on
which plants to grow and which ones to remove.
Brush in general is not only a fire hazard, but it can
also provide comfortable hiding places for wild animals.
So clear bushes from around your home... especially if
they are the type deer like to eat, and install proper fencing
to keep wildlife out and protect your garden.

Raccoons and feral cats are also common lion food, so do what you can to
avoid attracting them. Store your
pet food in a secure enclosure and whenever possible feed your
animals indoors.

Garbage cans also provide a magnificent party buffet for wild animals... and
it may not be long before a lion decides to crash the party and
eat the guests.
Close the buffet by securing your garbage cans.

Step 3. Safeguard Livestock

Raising livestock is often a messy business. Just like people can't help themselves from buying that great smelling popcorn at the movie theater, mountain lions may be tempted to come into your yard for a quick and tasty meal should they catch a whiff of one.

The smell of blood from sick, injured, dead, or newborn animals will attract mountain lions. Clean up the source and place vulnerable animals within a secure enclosure. See our animal husbandry page for more details on how to protect breeding and injured animals.

If the size of your ranching operation does not permit you to follow the previous steps, or if you have implemented them and are still having conflicts, consider researching and investing in some of these additional predator aversion techniques.

If a covered livestock pen is not an option, you may
need to build a tall fence. Mountain lions have been known to jump 15 feet vertically. Trained livestock-specific guard dogs are also said to scare off mountain lions.

Timed or motion sensor alarms with flashing lights, loud noises and sprinklers may work on mountain lions, and
can also provide an added bonus of scaring other pesky
neighbors who show up uninvited.

Step 4. Now Spread the Word

After following these simple steps, please let your neighbors know the value of taking the same precautions. A neighbor's actions can still attract mountain lions into the area and increase everyone's chances for a conflict.

We've created a simple brochure that you can photocopy and distribute in your neighborhood. once people understand that it's much easier — and far better — to change human behavior than the behavior of wildlife, they'll usually come around.

And don't forget to let people know to come to this website to learn about lions. While you may understand how to live peacefully with the local wildlife, your neighbors may not. Their appeal to a government agency may result in the death of a mountain lion.

Often neighbors call in the authorities thinking that they are simply making a report, and without understanding the likely consequences. Once a call is made, it's often a death warrant for the wild animal.

Please think your actions all the way through and do what is best for your community. Help your neighbors by referring them to our website or by printing and distributing some of the brochures listed below. Invite your local 4H and FFA clubs to contact MLF for help or tips for protecting their animals.

Several news reports came out of Wisconsin last week about the presence of a cougar in that state. Unfortunately, this "verified" sighting — only the fourth since the species was extirpated in 1908 — came with a slight twist. The cougar in question also reportedly attacked and injured a one-year-old heifer calf. This incident, the first of its kind in Wisconsin in over a hundred years, now raises the question of what to do with the offending animal.

Mountain lions are shy and extremely stealthy when it comes to not being seen by people. Tracking collar studies have shown that even lions living on the urban edge in close proximity to millions of people are still almost never detected by us. Radio collars and motion-activated cameras are a common way for researchers to monitor lion populations, seeing when, where, and how far the elusive cats travel. See recent videos of mountain lions in the wild, but not too far from people.

Spend just eight minutes and learn little known facts about the fascinating
mountain lion. Get a glimpse of how a mountain lion thinks, feels, and senses.
What makes the mountain lion so adaptable to a wide variety of habitats?
How does their hunting differ from that of wolves and bears? What is their
relationship to the ecosystem?